5 things we learned in Michigan football win over Michigan State

Michigan football played as well as it possibly could have against Michigan State and here are five things we learned about the Wolverines. 

We were all wondering how Michigan football was going to respond to allegations of illegal in-person scouting this past week.

The answer came early against Michigan State. The Wolverines marched the ball right down the field for a touchdown. Then, J.J. McCarthy threw for 276 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, while the defense barely allowed the Spartans offense to get a first down.

Michigan State finished with 182 yards total and most of those came after the Wolverines pulled their first-team defense. When the starters were in the game, Mike Sainristil had more interception return yards than Katin Houser had passing yards.

It was a total domination and here are five things we learned in the Michigan football win over Michigan State on Saturday.

J.J. McCarthy is college football MVP

After his four-touchdown performance, the Michigan football quarterback is now the betting favorite to win the Heisman Trophy according to FanDuel.

If McCarthy continues playing the way he has against Penn State and Ohio State while leading Michigan to another Big Ten title, the Heisman Trophy should be his.

Michael Penix Jr. has been outstanding, but McCarthy is the best quarterback in college football. In seven of eight games, McCarthy has been turnover-free. He’s also got 21 total touchdowns and is completing nearly 80 percent of his passes.

McCarthy has missed one pass on third down all season long. And all of his third-down completions have gone for first downs or touchdowns including a 6-for-6 effort on Saturday.

J.J. can’t play any better than he is right now and he’s barreling toward every Michigan football single-season passing record.

McCarthy is already fifth all-time in Michigan football history for career touchdown passes. He’s currently tied with Shea Patterson and is four away from Denard Robinson for fourth.

An elite tight-end duo

Georgia has a great duo of tight ends when Brock Bowers is healthy, but Michigan football can put its pairing up against anybody.

Colston Loveland has caught a touchdown pass in three straight games. I’ve been saying since last November he’s going to be a first-round pick someday and that belief grows stronger by the week.

A.J. Barner is also proving to be one of the most underrated additions in the transfer portal. Michigan football really values tight ends and was the perfect place for Barner, who is the best blocking tight end in college football according to Jim Harbaugh.

Barner also caught eight passes for 99 yards and caught a touchdown. Both players had a reception of at least 22 yards and are mismatch nightmares.

Frankly, either one is good enough to be the starter but as a pairing, they look like the best in all of college football, especially when you consider blocking, as well as pass-catching ability.

A 1997-style defense

Led by Charles Woodson, that 1997 Michigan football defense is the best I’ve ever seen in college football. Yet, this 2023 Michigan defense is pretty special in its own right.

The Wolverines are allowing just 5.9 points per game. It’s true that Michigan hasn’t played any ranked teams at this point, which wasn’t the case for the 1997 team.

This Michigan squad also doesn’t have someone quite as dominant as Charles Woodson. That player this year plays offense (J.J. McCarthy). But this is the deepest, most talented defense I think I’ve ever seen.

The top three cornerbacks are all pros. Will Johnson is going to be a top-10 pick, while Kris Jenkins and Mason Graham are also first-rounders in my mind, and maybe Kenneth Grant too.

Junior Colson, Michael Barrett, and Ernest Hausmann are also NFL players, as are all four of Michigan’s pass rushers — Braiden McGregor, Jaylen Harrell, Derrick Moore, and Josaiah Stewart who leads the team with five sacks, are draft picks too in my eyes.

Michigan even has a trio of safeties that look like future pros in Rod Moore, Makari Paige, and Keon Sabb, who has two interceptions so far this season.

Michigan still has work to do in order to reach the same level as the 1997 team, but the starting defense has scored more points than it has allowed this season.

Think about that for a second.

The running game has work to do

Michigan football did a lot of great things against Michigan State on Saturday night, but the running game did leave a little something to be desired.

The offensive line isn’t playing as well as it did last year and that’s hard to expect since Michigan football won the Joe Moore Award the past two seasons.

Blake Corum got 59 yards on 15 carries and scored a touchdown. But I figured if he got 15 carries or so that would lead to around 100 yards.

I’m not overly concerned about the running backs but Donovan Edwards had another tough night with six carries for 14 yards, outside of a key reception. There just aren’t the same holes to run through.

The pass offense is elite now. McCarthy is the engine that drives the offense instead of the running game, but if Michigan is going to beat Georgia, Ohio State, and Penn State, it needs to run the ball better.

It’s as simple as that.

Michigan won’t leave any doubt

I loved hearing that Jim Harbaugh’s halftime message to his players was, ‘Leave no doubt.” Harbaugh didn’t address the NCAA investigation directly but he made his feelings clear.

He told his players “to let their actions speak so loud you can’t even hear what they’re saying.” That’s exactly what they did and what I believe they will continue to do.

It was unfair to these Michigan football players to have these allegations out there in the public space without a thorough investigation first and some evidence to back it up.

That hasn’t been produced yet, so all these guys can do is reinforce the point that they are the best team in college football.

In the sense of Michigan being motivated, it might be the best thing that’s ever happened because I don’t think a team wants the national championship more than the Wolverines.

They are locked in and on a mission. This team is special. It deserves the bye week and then it’s time for the Big Ten championship push.